The short and turbulent life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time, has been the source of much speculation, scholarship, and one Academy Award-winning film. Mozart was the ultimate child prodigy, the quintessential temperamental artist, and the proverbial candl

Charming, Classical era, Decorative, Ebullient, Lyrical

Not only was George Frideric Handel one of the greatest composers of the baroque era, he also wrote the most frequently performed oratorio of all time: the "Messiah." Although this Christmas-time classic is the work that Handel is best known for, he composed a number of other masterpieces, both sacre

Baroque, Baroque music

One of the first composers to meld the sounds of the Western and Eastern classical music traditions, Philip Glass is largely responsible for creating the Minimalist movement in music. His unique sound developed over a long span of time -- time in which Glass decided that he was not satisfied with Wes

Classical, Clean, Electronic, Mathematical, Minimalist music, New musical hybrids, Repetition

The great Modernist composer Benjamin Britten was born in Suffolk in 1913. He studied privately with composer Frank Bridge and later went to school at the Royal College of Music in London. Although he picked up technique effortlessly and gleaned a great deal of knowledge by following the examples of

20th-century music, Eclectic, Epic, Monumental, Queer